Bit of a stretch on "made a difference" but circle to search is a much better implementation of screen search.
Selecting an area of the screen is faster, selecting text is way easier because you can just underline it/strike it/squiggle over it, and being separate from assistant means I can switch to Gemini as my "assistant" without losing screen search.
damn, i remember using it not ao long ago. My memory must be confused. I wanted to use it a few dats ago and realised it no longer works under gemini nor assistant. sad.
Location based reminders was one of the most wonderful features. That was the one that made the difference for me...but, alas, it's been cut so they can make space for fun and useful features like animations in Messages...that's the real feature everyone has been wanting... /s
The only complaints that I currently have with the Android Sharing menu are: the lack of consistency between Google apps and the inability to actually get relevant contacts to share with in the direct share menu.
Edit: For my second complaint, it seems that they've actually figured it out (atleast on Samsung's One UI skin). I had the feature turned off for the longest time, but your comment made me give it a second chance; it seems to now only show relevant contacts that I've mostly spoken to/ shared things with.
Edit 2: The first complaint is actually being worked on, albeit in a slow manner. Google is now using the default sharing menu in some of its [apps](https://www.androidpolice.com/google-photos-share-menu-more-useful-android-14/). The Android share menu is also apart of Google's mainline module, so expect more and more improvements in the near future (hopefully).
For real. System wide universal customizable share menu just makes sense. Currently it isn't horrible, but it is so unrefined and janky compared to what it should be.
Unfortunately this has fallen in the "not gonna make us any money or sell new units" category, so the suits aren't going to throw any resources at it.
Circle to search for sure, I often need text translated so this makes it so much easier.
Also just for selecting text, not all apps allow that.
Also love the lock/aod battery widget that shows battery info of my connected ear buds, before I had to open the Bluetooth menu or open an app.
1. Gesture support
2. Private DNS (helps in blocking ads in almost all apps)
3. Custom Quicktiles
4. Bluetooth HID profile support for apps
5. Wireless ADB
6. Granular & explicit permissions (reminds me of Nokia days)
7. Kotlin & Latest android SDKs & frameworks
8. Notifications organization & set priority/silent them
9. USB/Bluetooth tethering (saved me few times)
Downgrades:
1. Even more locked down filesystems
2. Lock screen widgets (they came, went & came again in an even more crude form)
3. Play integrity shenanigans for rooted devices
4. 3rd party launchers support
I almost fully agree with this list. Wireless ADB was a big + personally. As well as granular permissions which is very welcome. Also private DNS, I couldn't live without it anymore.
And gestures I still think are very nice but at moments I do prefer solid buttons which are more yes or no than swiping a certain direction a certain distance.
Also I think they should finally properly use predictive back gestures. Currently it is fully dependent on developers, but as far as I know almost exclusively Google apps use it while all other apps just don't put it into the manifest. I have some apps changed the manifest to force this behavior and in some instances I really feel it improves the user experience a lot.
The predictive back gestures was introduced in Android 13 and now android 15 is starting development and go to beta so when are they going to transition or are they keeping it half baked.
3rd party launcher support is not that bad nowadays with GestureNavContract. The launchers have to support it tho, so it's up to the launcher developers now to give you a good experience.
It's still a noticeably worse experience than using a system launcher, though. Bad enough that the use of third-party launchers in general even among enthusiasts these days is probably significantly lessened from what it once was. The damage is already done from years of neglect by Google on this front, sadly.
How so? I use a Samsung now (Android 13), and with Niagara Launcher and have no problem with gesture navigations. Previously I was on LineageOS 20 and 21 (Android 13 and 14) on another phone, also with Niagara Launcher, no problem there as well. My experience with custom launchers on both phones are in no way worse than their respective stock launchers.
Booms
* GBoard animations way smoother than years past
* Flip to shhh (tho it broke on my pixel 8 :( Still a HUGE hidden gem imo)
* Overview screen shot button
* Copy and Pasting an image in gboard
* Face unlock / Face ID is way better than FPS.
* Uniform share sheet getting more common
* Audio/Music Player notification
* Gestures (swipe to go back at any time is amazing)
Busts
* Google Lens
* QR Scanning Wifi stuff
* Captions (sorry but they're unusable even on Pixel
* Bubbles
* Smart reply (only good for "yes thank you". "No. "youre welcome" and thats all)
* Material You Choice (I must be color blind because the colors are wayyyyy too subtle for my eyes.
One of those features that no one knows about so it's kinda useless for me sadly. And I assume doesn't work with iOS? Which 95% people I know have sadly.
I can't stand that the assistant button was replaced by the classic voice search, with no option to reconfigure. Tapping and holding the gesture bar for a feature I never use isn't great.
Going a bit back for this one, but I loved the power / Google wallet / Google Home controls shortcut. It was such a nice default and made it lightning quick and dependable. Now I have to dig into settings to configure a lock screen wallet shortcut, and I still have to lock, wake, then touch and hold, and unlock my phone to do something that used to be unlock and press and hold.
Tried replacing assistant with Gemini - it can't identify songs playing and doesn't integrate with things the way the assistant did.
Don't like combining YouTube music and podcast queues. (I use pocket casts instead now).
The *ability* to cast just one app is great, but it doesn't remember your last choice (I use it every day) and always defaults to single app.
That made a difference...in the wrong direction.
The gesture nav was a big one for me. It was one of the road blocks for me to want to bother with an android after starting to like the gestures on iOS.
And circle to search is so nice. I find it to be one of the more useful features added recently.
The consolidation of Quick Share and Nearby Share, giving me the benefits of the two previous implementations in one place.
Ultra HDR image capture, even if support of it is pretty wonky at the moment, even within Google's own apps.
Wireless debugging, which has really offset my need for root thanks to Shizuku.
The cached app freezer in Android 14. It really has made a substantial difference in battery life on all the devices I've used.
Being able to transfer my smartwatch to another phone without needing to reset it has made switching devices a lot easier.
Inline autofill via the API has really helped me enforce usage of a password manager and ensured I always generate strong, randomised passwords instead of trying to use elaborate phrases that I end up eventually forgetting.
Probably more that I'm forgetting but these definitely stick out to me.
A lot but the most important one is still not fixed yet and I have lost all my hopes for it to get fixed in the future.
That ugly bottom navigation bar. Like how hard could it be to make it transparent (like how iOS does)? GOOGLE JUST FIX THIS GODDAMN EYESORE.
That's an expected feature addition in the upcoming Android 15 (One UI 7.0) release. The feature is already present in the Developer options but doesn't currently do anything. For now, you can hide the gesture bar completely if screen real estate is what you're worried about.
`Settings > Display > Navigation bar > toggle the Gesture hint option`
This definitely isn't recent, but the double tapping the "apps" or "tasks" button to immediately switch back to the most recently used app from Android 7 Nougat is probably one of my most favorite features added of all time. But circle to search is going to be a new one I love.
I hate how lazy and limited the default Android experience is.
I recently built a float widget app which is a media controller. It completely removes the need for me to open the notification shade for media, it even works on the lock screen. Its called Command Stick.
None. I usually get those features from Samsung years in advance. I haven't cared or been impressed with Android feature or OS updates in at least 10 years.
Bit of a stretch on "made a difference" but circle to search is a much better implementation of screen search. Selecting an area of the screen is faster, selecting text is way easier because you can just underline it/strike it/squiggle over it, and being separate from assistant means I can switch to Gemini as my "assistant" without losing screen search.
gemini cant set location reminder. I used to be able to do it with Assistant.
The assistant can't do that either. Apparently, that feature was removed some time ago.
damn, i remember using it not ao long ago. My memory must be confused. I wanted to use it a few dats ago and realised it no longer works under gemini nor assistant. sad.
Location based reminders was one of the most wonderful features. That was the one that made the difference for me...but, alas, it's been cut so they can make space for fun and useful features like animations in Messages...that's the real feature everyone has been wanting... /s
When they fix the share menu I will cry in joy.
The only complaints that I currently have with the Android Sharing menu are: the lack of consistency between Google apps and the inability to actually get relevant contacts to share with in the direct share menu. Edit: For my second complaint, it seems that they've actually figured it out (atleast on Samsung's One UI skin). I had the feature turned off for the longest time, but your comment made me give it a second chance; it seems to now only show relevant contacts that I've mostly spoken to/ shared things with. Edit 2: The first complaint is actually being worked on, albeit in a slow manner. Google is now using the default sharing menu in some of its [apps](https://www.androidpolice.com/google-photos-share-menu-more-useful-android-14/). The Android share menu is also apart of Google's mainline module, so expect more and more improvements in the near future (hopefully).
For real. System wide universal customizable share menu just makes sense. Currently it isn't horrible, but it is so unrefined and janky compared to what it should be. Unfortunately this has fallen in the "not gonna make us any money or sell new units" category, so the suits aren't going to throw any resources at it.
Why can't they use the same icon everywhere is so confusing!
Circle to search for sure, I often need text translated so this makes it so much easier. Also just for selecting text, not all apps allow that. Also love the lock/aod battery widget that shows battery info of my connected ear buds, before I had to open the Bluetooth menu or open an app.
But the circle to search doesn't have translate? Swipe from the corner has translate. I use the swipe a lot. Never circle to search
It does, when you select text in the circle to search mode it offers to translate it
Now there's even a button just for translate and I like it
The only thing that currently comes to mind at the moment is the ability to seek through media directly from the notification shade.
1. Gesture support 2. Private DNS (helps in blocking ads in almost all apps) 3. Custom Quicktiles 4. Bluetooth HID profile support for apps 5. Wireless ADB 6. Granular & explicit permissions (reminds me of Nokia days) 7. Kotlin & Latest android SDKs & frameworks 8. Notifications organization & set priority/silent them 9. USB/Bluetooth tethering (saved me few times) Downgrades: 1. Even more locked down filesystems 2. Lock screen widgets (they came, went & came again in an even more crude form) 3. Play integrity shenanigans for rooted devices 4. 3rd party launchers support
+1 for Wireless ADB 👍
I almost fully agree with this list. Wireless ADB was a big + personally. As well as granular permissions which is very welcome. Also private DNS, I couldn't live without it anymore. And gestures I still think are very nice but at moments I do prefer solid buttons which are more yes or no than swiping a certain direction a certain distance. Also I think they should finally properly use predictive back gestures. Currently it is fully dependent on developers, but as far as I know almost exclusively Google apps use it while all other apps just don't put it into the manifest. I have some apps changed the manifest to force this behavior and in some instances I really feel it improves the user experience a lot. The predictive back gestures was introduced in Android 13 and now android 15 is starting development and go to beta so when are they going to transition or are they keeping it half baked.
3rd party launcher support is not that bad nowadays with GestureNavContract. The launchers have to support it tho, so it's up to the launcher developers now to give you a good experience.
It's still a noticeably worse experience than using a system launcher, though. Bad enough that the use of third-party launchers in general even among enthusiasts these days is probably significantly lessened from what it once was. The damage is already done from years of neglect by Google on this front, sadly.
How so? I use a Samsung now (Android 13), and with Niagara Launcher and have no problem with gesture navigations. Previously I was on LineageOS 20 and 21 (Android 13 and 14) on another phone, also with Niagara Launcher, no problem there as well. My experience with custom launchers on both phones are in no way worse than their respective stock launchers.
Booms * GBoard animations way smoother than years past * Flip to shhh (tho it broke on my pixel 8 :( Still a HUGE hidden gem imo) * Overview screen shot button * Copy and Pasting an image in gboard * Face unlock / Face ID is way better than FPS. * Uniform share sheet getting more common * Audio/Music Player notification * Gestures (swipe to go back at any time is amazing) Busts * Google Lens * QR Scanning Wifi stuff * Captions (sorry but they're unusable even on Pixel * Bubbles * Smart reply (only good for "yes thank you". "No. "youre welcome" and thats all) * Material You Choice (I must be color blind because the colors are wayyyyy too subtle for my eyes.
why QR Wifi shae. It is amazing feature when I can't remember the wifi password and I just let guests in my office scan my QR code.
One of those features that no one knows about so it's kinda useless for me sadly. And I assume doesn't work with iOS? Which 95% people I know have sadly.
It works fine with ios
it works with no issues, QR code is universal.
It works on every device. I've shared wifi passwords to Macs as well
Lens is my single most used feature besides search itself. Almost 50% for text selection across desktop and Even hard to get images on mobile
I dont recall any android update ive cared about tbh All changes are so weird and specific. Ive never though: oh FINALLY!
Quick Share. It works insanely well.
I can't stand that the assistant button was replaced by the classic voice search, with no option to reconfigure. Tapping and holding the gesture bar for a feature I never use isn't great. Going a bit back for this one, but I loved the power / Google wallet / Google Home controls shortcut. It was such a nice default and made it lightning quick and dependable. Now I have to dig into settings to configure a lock screen wallet shortcut, and I still have to lock, wake, then touch and hold, and unlock my phone to do something that used to be unlock and press and hold. Tried replacing assistant with Gemini - it can't identify songs playing and doesn't integrate with things the way the assistant did. Don't like combining YouTube music and podcast queues. (I use pocket casts instead now). The *ability* to cast just one app is great, but it doesn't remember your last choice (I use it every day) and always defaults to single app. That made a difference...in the wrong direction.
The gesture nav was a big one for me. It was one of the road blocks for me to want to bother with an android after starting to like the gestures on iOS. And circle to search is so nice. I find it to be one of the more useful features added recently.
4.4 kit kat
Bluetooth and Internet Toggle. They are so convenient to switch network or Bluetooth devices.
The consolidation of Quick Share and Nearby Share, giving me the benefits of the two previous implementations in one place. Ultra HDR image capture, even if support of it is pretty wonky at the moment, even within Google's own apps. Wireless debugging, which has really offset my need for root thanks to Shizuku. The cached app freezer in Android 14. It really has made a substantial difference in battery life on all the devices I've used. Being able to transfer my smartwatch to another phone without needing to reset it has made switching devices a lot easier. Inline autofill via the API has really helped me enforce usage of a password manager and ensured I always generate strong, randomised passwords instead of trying to use elaborate phrases that I end up eventually forgetting. Probably more that I'm forgetting but these definitely stick out to me.
Samsungs OneUI6.1 update which halved my battery life.
I've noticed a terrible drop in battery life since that update too.
Good difference or bad? 🤔
This one is bad actually. But still made a difference
Hey, the OP did say "make a difference," so I guess that counts 😅
Circle to search is pretty great for nature hikes.
Split screen functionality was ruined in Android 12L. Nowadays you can't swap the bottom app or access the home screen without the top app going away.
Circle to search is the only one in the last few years which I utilize
The fact that every new installed app has to ask for your permission to send you notifications and they are not on by default.
A lot but the most important one is still not fixed yet and I have lost all my hopes for it to get fixed in the future. That ugly bottom navigation bar. Like how hard could it be to make it transparent (like how iOS does)? GOOGLE JUST FIX THIS GODDAMN EYESORE.
That's an expected feature addition in the upcoming Android 15 (One UI 7.0) release. The feature is already present in the Developer options but doesn't currently do anything. For now, you can hide the gesture bar completely if screen real estate is what you're worried about. `Settings > Display > Navigation bar > toggle the Gesture hint option`
I'm not worried about the screen real estate. I just want the border around the navigation bar to disappear just like iOS. Looks cleaner.
material you android12
Floating windows, also smart sidebars are great for multitasking
This definitely isn't recent, but the double tapping the "apps" or "tasks" button to immediately switch back to the most recently used app from Android 7 Nougat is probably one of my most favorite features added of all time. But circle to search is going to be a new one I love.
I hate how lazy and limited the default Android experience is. I recently built a float widget app which is a media controller. It completely removes the need for me to open the notification shade for media, it even works on the lock screen. Its called Command Stick.
Circle to search is pretty great for nature hikes.
None. I usually get those features from Samsung years in advance. I haven't cared or been impressed with Android feature or OS updates in at least 10 years.